Homes lost in Colo. wildfires

DAVE DUNLAP WATCHES from the bed of his truck as a wildfire crosses Black Forest Road near his home on Tuesday in Colorado Springs, Colo. The Black Forest Fire was one of at least four significant wildfires burning in Colorado amid gusty winds and hot, dry weather.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Cooler nighttime temperatures and calmer winds gave firefighters a break from hot, dry, gusty weather that fanned a wildfire that burned dozens of homes northeast of Colorado Springs and fueled three other major blazes in Colorado.

“That’s going to give our firefighters a much better advantage, if there is such a thing,” El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said late Tuesday.

The Black Forest Fire in a heavily wooded residential area northeast of Colorado Springs burned 40 to 60 homes after it broke out Tuesday and prompted evacuations of about 2,300 homes, affecting about 6,400 people, Maketa said.

To the south, another blaze south of the Royal Gorge Bridge destroyed three structures near Canon City. Fires also sent plumes of smoke billowing up from southern Colorado and in Rocky Mountain National Park to the north.

At the Black Forest Fire, six helicopters and an air tanker were on the scene, Maketa said. The office of Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., said C-130 cargo planes were expected to be prepared to help fight the fire today.

The area is not far from last summer’s devastating Waldo Canyon Fire that destroyed 346 homes and killed two.

“It’s very, very reminiscent of what we experienced in Waldo Canyon,” Maketa said.

However, there were no immediate reports of injuries in the fires.

All of the fires moved quickly Tuesday, driven by record temperatures and strong winds. The conditions were making it difficult to build containment lines around the fire, and sparks jumped across them.

“Weather is not working with us right now, but our guys are giving it a heck of a shot,” Maketa said.

In southern Colorado, the Bureau of Land Management said three structures have been lost in a fire on about 6 square miles near the Royal Gorge Bridge. Authorities evacuated Royal Gorge Bridge & Park, home of the soaring suspension bridge spanning the canyon across the Arkansas River.

A third wildfire in southern Colorado erupted Tuesday in rural Huerfano County. The Klikus Fire had burned an estimated 45 to 50 acres west of La Veta, prompting evacuation orders for about 200 residences.

The causes of those fires weren’t immediately confirmed.

A fourth wildfire sparked by lightning Monday in Rocky Mountain National Park quickly grew to an estimated 300 to 400 acres Tuesday.

Share this: